Kevin Durant has successfully regained access to his bitcoin, marking a significant development for the basketball superstar who had invested in the cryptocurrency nearly a decade ago. Durant’s agent and business partner, Rich Kleiman, shared the story during a recent event, revealing that they had previously struggled to access the crypto wallet.
Kleiman recounted a pivotal moment shortly after Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors in 2016, during a birthday dinner hosted by venture capitalist Ben Horowitz. “At the end of that night, I was like, Kevin, I just heard the word ‘bitcoin’ 25 times this evening,” Kleiman explained. This prompted Durant and Kleiman to delve into cryptocurrency investments the following day.
Despite their enthusiasm and early investment, they lost access to Durant’s Coinbase account, preventing them from selling any bitcoin. The situation became particularly notable as the cryptocurrency saw a dramatic increase in value over the years. A representative for Kleiman later confirmed that they had regained access to the account but declined to disclose its content. However, a reliable source from Coinbase confirmed that Durant was able to access his account earlier this week.
Bitcoin was priced at approximately $650 on September 29, 2016—the same day as Durant’s birthday. Since then, its price has skyrocketed, reportedly increasing roughly 180-fold to reach all-time highs nearing $117,000. If Durant had invested $10,000 at that time, he would now possess around 15 bitcoins, valued at more than $1.8 million.
During the event, Kleiman humorously noted the irony of their prolonged difficulties accessing the account, given their significant investment in Coinbase early on, which also established Durant as a promoter of the crypto exchange. “We’ll get it,” Kleiman remarked about the missing login information. “It’s just a process we haven’t been able to figure out, but bitcoin keeps going up, so it’s like, what’s the problem? I mean, it’s only benefited us.”
He also reflected on the years spent trying to regain access, calling the account access issue “a user error on our end.” Kleiman emphasized that their partnership with Coinbase has been integral to their business over nearly a decade. A spokesperson for Coinbase added that customers who lose their passwords can reset them using self-service tools within the app and that support is available around the clock to assist users through the process.
